So the Gray Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA), a group that’s all about ‘social consciousness through digital culture’ (their words), has just moved around the corner from their previous space in an old porn theater at 55 Taylor. They’re now located in the Warfield Building on Market street, which means that people scared of the Tenderloin (who we assume probably aren’t reading this anyways) now won’t have to traverse that scary half a block into it for GAFFTA’s exhibits and events. Shows such as ‘Transmutations: Sound, Data, and Mechanics‘, currently on view until May 13 on Tuesdays and Thursdays 4pm-7pm (you can see some pictures of the show here).

As a side note, if you look at that handmade sign on their old location, it appears that this sign maker is getting around. Good for him in these tough economic times.

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3 Comments until now

I don’t understand! Last year when Gray Foundation for the Arts moved in, there was a whole lot of hoopla from the Mayor, his Office of workforce and Economic Development and all the CBDs and non-profit stake holders that the Gray Arts Project was going to dramatically clean up that stretch of Taylor. Why did they choose to move over to the Warfield? Have they completed their goal in cleaning up that block?
Other than the possibility of cheaper rent and space, I suspect being steps closer to Show Dogs and the future Pearl’s Hamburgers played into the decision making process.

The real issue around the move was a persistent and unsolved problem with the space of 55 Taylor. Since moving in Gray Area has been subjected to dozens of leaks in the space, many of them sewage and waste water leaks. The leaks have damaged tens of thousands of dollars of equipment, as well as made for borderline uninhabitable space at times. Which isn’t safe for the people working there (almost entirely volunteers) or for the visitors to the space. The move to 998 Market was a blessing, it was the only alternative to closing temporarily until we found a permanent space. Thankfully we were able to find a fantastic space under impossible deadlines, just in time to get the new show Transmutations installed. If you’re naive enough to believe that a move half a block was out of distate for the neighborhood, then you’re very much in the wrong.